..Drygan..The Trek Continues..

[Rhindeer]

Aww...but asking what she liked was so much less exciting than rooting around and figuring it out for himself! That was fun. Hmm...but maybe, just to keep her on her toes, he could do both. Root around...then ask if she liked it! Whatever it was he was looking for, exactly. Hell if he knew--he'd discovered the chocolate thing by impulse (but then again, who didn't like chocolate? Crazy people, that was who) and anyway, he had a feeling she wouldn't just up and tell him everything. She was like that and he knew it--she was stubborn, so she'd probably leave stuff out on purpose out of fear of being embarrassed (which was probably wise). So, yup! That settled that. He'd just be nosy...in a sly, subtle way.

...As if he had any concept of subtly.

In any case, he did notice the shiver, but he also didn't mention it for obvious reasons. Both because he didn't want her freaking and because...he'd just asked a pretty freak-out worthy question, he supposed.

Hatame watched her as she began to turn, but then froze, and he could feel his shoulders tensing a little in slight anxiety. He couldn't help it if he actually cared what she thought!

And he couldn't help but release a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. She wasn't mad.

Whew...

"No, no, I got it. I, erm, wasn't really thinking when I did that, anyway, and..." At least, the first kiss had been totally on impulse. The second one...yeah, he'd known damned well what he was doing, ahem. But he didn't mention that! Nah, he was actually just talking about the first one. Best not to even bring up the second one because, deliberate or not, he still didn't really know what had been going on in his head. Or...gah. What the hell he'd said all that for. Even if he knew he meant it. Still, like hell he'd tell Sakki that, even when he did get everything figured out.

There was just...no way he could tell her that. How did he let her know? He didn't. Not unless he really wanted to scare her away and endanger their friendship. Not a risk he was willing to take. "I know whatcha mean. I just had to make sure...I was kinda worried. But don't worry!" he added hurriedly. "I won't do it again, joking or otherwise--I mean, I...just won't do it again." Just let her keep thinking it was one of his usual pervy jokes. That was the safest route.

Might have helped if he didn't sound both relieved and slightly...disappointed.

Damnit.

Glancing down toward the ground, it was then that he suddenly remembered something. Straightening again, he reached down and started fishing around in his left pocket. "Oh yeah...I forgot. I also got you this," he said, holding out a small square box that fit in the palm of his hand. He wasn't really looking at her as he handed it to her. "Don't get all embarrassed or anything...it's...not really anything, I don't even know if you like stuff like this, heh."

Inside was a small, thin silver chain decorated with different, lightly colored glass beads, cut and shaped to look like crystals. Not anything expensive or anything--after all, he hardly had any money--but...he'd thought it looked pretty cool Then again, he also liked shiny stuff, so what could he say? "It's...just a thing for your hair," he went on, almost awkwardly. "I mean, your hair's cool, so...but it's cool without stuff, too!"

Okay, just shut up already and let her open it!

[Anonymous]

She refused to lift her amber eyes to watch him as he spoke. He may not have been thinking when he gave her that first kiss...
But the second one was most definately deliberate...
...should she bring it up??

He didn't, and so she stayed quiet, realizing it was a delicate subject for the both of them. She did finally look at him as he promised not to do it again, but quickly had to look away.
That had dissapointed her!!
What the hell was wrong with her?? Since when did she ever want a kiss from Hatame!? She was so flustered with her own dissapointment, she didn't even notice it in Hatame's voice.

And then he was holding a small box out to her, and she blinked down at it. Turning, her previous embarrassment was washed out by her curiosity as she took the little thing into her own hands.
She hardly heard what Hatame was saying, for she was already opening the box to find...
Well, she wasn't sure what it was, but it was pretty!
She gently pulled it from its encasing and stared as the light caught in the little crystals.
"Wow Hatame, it's so pretty..." She then blinked when he said it went in her hair.
She finally blushed, and blushed hard.
How did he manage to do that every time...???
Once again, Hatame had hit upon another Drygan custom that had to do with mating. That had to be a freaky special talent of his or something...
During the rare occasions that males are the ones doing the courting, before a female comes into heat, they gave the female pretty things to put into their hair, their post precious bodily attribute.

And here Hatame was, doing the same thing, totally oblivious...

Still blushing, she jerkily held the dangly thing out to him, dipping her head a bit.
"Ok...put it in, I'm not sure how..."
Cough...not to mention it was customary for the male to put his gift in the female's hair himself...
Gah, she was loosing it...!

[Rhindeer]

Hatame still wasn't really watching as Sakkata opened the box. Yeah, yeah, he was still a bit afraid of what she'd think. Maybe it was too gaudy. Maybe she wouldn't like it. Baaah! Oh well. It was the thought that counted, right? And man, poor Hatame had no idea that his gift, which was supposed to be an "I'm so sorry I shouldn't have kissed you!" gift, was actually, by the standards of Sakkata's culture, a "hey, babe, let's go a-courting!" gift.

Oh boy. If only he'd known...

In any case, once Sakkata opened the box, Hatame waited anxiously for a reaction of some sort. Good. Bad. Apathetic. Something. And oh man, hopefully she took his previous advice to heart and didn't get all embarrassed! Hopefully she just...acted naturally about it. She said she never knew what to do when he was "sweet", so...let's just hope she'd take this round better. After all, gifts were supposed to bring happiness, not tears! Unless they were tears of happiness. Those were fine! But the last thing a gift was supposed to do was bring tears of hurt.

She gently pulled the "dangly thing" out, and...

And she called it pretty! She even said "wow".

Okay, that had to be a good sign. So, danger over, Hatame finally looked. And she was blushing. BUT! It seemed to be a good blushing! Sure, the blush was dark and deep which meant she must be very embarrassed, butbut she looked happy! That is to say, no tears were shining in her eyes and she didn't look ready to either cry or beat on him so, yes, for Sakki it was happy. It was good enough for him!

Of course, he had no idea why Sakkata was really blushing or what thoughts were going through that head of hers. And when she jerkily held the trinket out to him to put in her hair, he thought it was only the usual embarrassment or awkwardness that had come with letting him touch her hair.

"Sure! It's kinda tricky to do on your own, anyway, if you dunno how to do it...I can show you how, later, though, if you want," he told her, then blinked and stared down at her braided hair. Oops. He set the "dangly thing" back in Sakkata's lap. "Um...hold on a sec, actually. Heh...sorry, I probably should have given this to you before I did your hair. Just hold still." Shifting around behind her, he carefully undid her braid again and gathered a bit of hair up near the front of her face, separating it from the rest of her hair and draping it over her shoulder. Then, just as carefully as before, he worked on rebraiding her hair.

Once it was back in its braid, he could focus on the bit of hair that he'd pulled free of the braid. Scooting back around to the side of her body, where he could access the section of hair, he picked up the piece of jewelry and worked on tying the chain into her hair. Well, braiding it into her hair, more like. There were a lot of ways to attach it, but he just figured that would be the easiest. It would also be the easiest for her to take out.

When he was through, he sat back and smiled, holding the braid in one hand to check it over briefly before letting it slide out of his fingers, grazing Sakkata's cheek lightly by accident. "There! Done! Whatcha think? Er...well...we kinda don't have a mirror, but...I think it looks great! I mean, you looked great without it, but--" He blinked, then coughed. "That is to say...yeah. Looks good."

Augh...this was hard...

[Anonymous]

Gah! He took it...Why did she have to let him do it?? Why couldn't she have just figured it out on her own??
Sure, he didn't know what it meant, but she did! She was practically inviting him to court her, whether he knew it or not!
Dammit Sakkata, what is wrong with you???

The poor Drygan sat hunched as she waited, then blinked as Hatame put the hair ornament in her lap. She looked up in time to hear his explination, then managed a weak grin.
"Idiot."

She sat perfectly still as Hatame had to undo the braid he had just finished, feeling him pull that lone strip of hair free before rebraiding her long white tresses (i always wanted to use that word...lol).
Sakki watched from the corners of her eyes as he put the little dangly bit in her hair, blushing a bit harder. She would NEVER tell him about what this signifies. Never ever ever...

A shiver ran down her spine as his fingers brushed her hot cheeks, and she gulped and quickly grabbed the newly decorated strand of hairs, inspecting it by pulling the strand in front of her face. "I like it...alot. Thank you Hatame..."
Finally she let go of the decoration, and cleared her throat a bit, looking off to the side with discomfort.
Dammit...
Half of her wanted to tell him why she was so embarrassed, but the other half was too embarrassed to say!

But he did say...to tell him if things...were bothering her...
Did...did this count??
Damn damn damn...

"Uh...Hatame...? There's...something else about Drygans...that um..." She shifted. "Well, it's embarassing...but it's bothering me...but...I don't know, do you want to hear it...?" She was trying to be more open, she was! But this was just so...damn embarassing!!

[Rhindeer]

She really liked it...yay!  Hatame grinned proudly at that--oh yes, he was good! So far, he'd succeeded in picking out stuff that Sakki liked! Booyah! "Hey, no prob. Glad you like..." He trailed off suddenly and looked at Sakkata more closely. She looked...uncomfortable. Like she was about ready to clam up again. And she was blushing. Uh oh...had he done something again? Wait. Oh. It was probably just the whole touching hair thing...because, after all, according to her he was the only one she'd allowed to touch her hair (a fact which he still hadn't quite gotten over; really, he couldn't really get over how oddly awesome that was, that she trusted him that much). This was still only the second time he'd done it (or, technically third? Since he'd had to re-braid). So, yeah, some of the awkwardness was still bound to be there, he imagined. On her end especially, since Hatame had a tendency to bounce back from such situations fast.

So, Hatame just decided it was probably just that. No biggy. He could understand that. It was natural. And she did like the dangly thing! So that was good! She'd honestly said she liked it!

That was when Sakkata suddenly gave voice to her discomfort.

Something else about Drygans...?

Hatame blinked owlishly at her, green eyes suddenly large. Uh oh. Another Drygan custom? Did he do something bad again? He didn't know what he could have done this time, but...hopefully it wasn't bad!

Except she said it was embarrassing.

Uh oh. Yeah. He seemed to have a talent for stumbling across these sorts of things, and without even trying in this case! Maybe one day he should sit Sakkata down and have her explain everything about Drygans to him. He already knew a good bit from being around her for so long (man, he couldn't even remember how long he'd known her now! Time sure had flown since that one day when she'd busted him out of prison...), both by accidentally stumbling onto it and from her explaining things here and there. He really did find it all intriguing, and he honestly did want to learn more...about her culture, and, well...about her.

So even if he was half worried and half curious about what had embarrassed her, he was also, well, happy. Because she really was making an effort to be more open, to tell him when things were bugging him instead of going all silent and brooding like she normally did.

So, when asked, Hatame only nodded firmly and met her gaze. "Yeah, of course I wanna hear it. Tell me, Sakki."

[Anonymous]

Aw damn...He said yes...
So now she had to answer...
Why couldn't she have kept her friggin mouth shut!?

Gritting her teeth, Sakki shifted herself to face him, her cheeks still a vibrant red with her blush.
Fine, she was a woman of her word, she'd tell him.
Craaaaap...

"Alright...um...you already know that the hair is really important. Well, um...before female Drygans go into heat, sometimes the males start the courtship by..."
Dammit, here goes nothing...
"By presenting the female with things for her hair. And if she accepts...um...yeah, the courtship starts and he gets to put it in her hair."

She then straightened, throwing her hands out in front of her, her blush growing. "I wasn't going to tell you that until after you were done, because then you'd get the wrong impression!!" She hurridly explained. She didn't want him to start courting her or anything!!
Or, well, maybe she did, just alittle, but she didn't want him to know that either!!

Gah, this was just crap!!

[Rhindeer]

Hatame tried not to look nervous as she turned to face him. Well, it must not have been that bad. After all, she hadn't smacked him! Like with the whole tail incident. So it must not have been sexual, otherwise she probably wouldn't have even been able to speak. Still, it seemed serious, because she was all serious about it. And blushy. Heh heh. Blushy Sakkata...no! Serious face! Ahem. Yeesh. He was torn between being amused and nervous. Weird. Why the hell would he be nervous?

So, instead, he was perfectly quiet as she began to speak, forcing his face into what he hoped was a calm, neutral expression as she began to explain. Best not to laugh or look nervous, otherwise she might not be able to get whatever she wanted to say out. He knew how tough talking, especially about embarrassing things, was for her.

Okay...it had to do with her hair? He nodded when she mentioned him knowing how important it was--heck yeah he knew. And then she continued on, and...

So much for the neutral look.

Hatame's jaw actually dropped a little.

So he'd inadvertantly started a courtship with her?! And she'd accepted? Wait.

She'd accepted!

Even if it was only because she didn't want the whole thing to seem weird, or to seem like she didn't appreciate the gift or something. But still...she could have said she wanted to do it herself. She asked him. Er...GAH! What was he thinking?! Shut up, Hatame. Just stop thinking now. Stop over-analyzing. Analyzing stuff just wasn't his style.

Still, he continued staring at her blankly as she hurriedly explained everything, that she didn't want him to get the wrong impression. Hatame suddenly blinked and straightened as though snapping back to himself finally, shaking his head quickly and also waving his hands in front of him quickly. "Oh! Ahaha! No, no, you didn't give the wrong impression! Ehehe, I didn't even know what I was doing, after all! Don't worry about it!" He grinned sheepishly in his usual way, totally letting everything roll off him. Just like always. Unphased. Unembarrassed. Normal. "Guess that means we're courting now, huh?" he added with a wink and a smirk, teasing. His usual jokes. His usual way of taking everything in stride cooly.

<I>Ugh...that isn't what you want, though...

He fell quiet then, glancing down at the ground, the grin fading. Shit, Hatame...

He was probably going to regret this...

But...he had to say it. He didn't know when he ever would, and...goddammit. Now or never. Just this once. He'd say it once, see what happened, then...never ever bring it up again. Once couldn't hurt. Just...

He never raised his eyes from the ground. "...But...what if I said I didn't mind...?" he practically mumbled, picking at a blade of grass.

[Anonymous]

By his reaction, she could only fear that he had picked up on the point of her accepting by letting him put it in her hair, as opposed to her doing it...
Shit.
Uh, please don't comment, please don't comment, please don't comment...

Score! He didn't say anything about that particular little tidbit! Thank the gods...

She was a bit relieved by his reaction, which though awkward, was usual and safe. Just him being a goof, laughing it off, and agreeing that it didn't mean anything like that.
Good, safe Hatame.
He did what she had expected.

So why did she feel so dissapointed inside...?
Dammit, all this emotional bull was really starting to tick her off! She didn't know what to do with it all!!
Gah...

She simply snorted at his attempt at a joke, smirking in a way that was closer to a snarl. "In your dreams, Hatame." Was her answer, her shoulders hunched a bit. But there wasn't any punch behind it, just like his words were weak as well.
Dry, colorless.
Neither of them felt what they were saying.

Dammit!

And that's when he said it, her accute Drygan hearing picking up on it right away.
"W-what??" She then blinked rapidly and shook her head, acting as though he had just dropped a rock on her skull or something.
"I-I-I...What???"
She couldn't even wrap her brain around what he had said. He didn't...he couldn't really...
Could he??

If Sakki were not so proud, she probably would have fainted right then and there.
And she might faint yet, with the way this conversation was going...

[Rhindeer]

Agh! Why had he said that?! He knew it was a bad idea! Now she was freaking out! Oh Gods. He...he shouldn't have said that! Though, now he had his answer he guessed, so...now he knew! Ahaha! Now he never had to bring it up or think about it again! Yay! So now he could stop being so weird around her and they could go back to the way things were and he could go back to flirting like mad with other women! Because, yeah, it had oddly enough been a while since he'd done that. Subconsciously, he hadn't done it because...well...because of...Sakkata. And...stuff. But now he could! Haha! Freedom again, back to his old life. Yeah. What the hell was he thinking? Augh!

But even the thought of that was kind of...depressing, almost.

Once again, Hatame sat up abruptly, like he'd been stung, and looked at Sakkata with wide eyes. "Ah! Ahaha...I...I mean...er...forget it! Forget I said it! I shouldn't have said it! Just...uh...yeah. I mean..." Wait, slow down Hatame. Breathe. She hadn't really said anything yet. She was just expressing shock. Not anger. Not a "hell no". Not anything. Just shock. Yeah. Calm down. Just...take it a step at a time.

Augh, what was wrong with him?!

"I...er...shit." Hatame rubbed the back of his neck, chewing his bottom lip. Yep. The "free-spirited perv" was tongue-tied. He who flirted it up with random women non-stop, he who had had quite a few one-night stands, he who was always confident and quick with words and wit...he was stumped. And...kind of scared, to be honest.

Yeah. He was losing it.

He finally forced himself to look at her. "I...well...just..." A deep breath. "Okay. Um...so...what if...well..." Just get it out already! "...What if I said I...liked you?" He blinked. "I mean...I already like you, but what if I...liked you. You know? Like you as in...liked you enough to want to court you...?"

Hatame grit his teeth quickly after and snapped his eyes back down to the grass and the blanket. Better stop while you're ahead. He swallowed. "I mean...uh...I honestly didn't know what that meant, but, well...you can tell me to shut up. Sakki, just...smack me or tell me to shut up now, okay? And forget I said that. Yeah...it's craziness."

Ugh, he was so bloody nervous!

[Anonymous]

Gah, again, why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut!? Why did she have to ask 'what'!? And he was speaking stupid! How does somebody forget that someone said something like that to them??
Especially when your species only goes into heat every few years???
Dammit!

She was doing alot of mental cursing these days, too...

She stared at him blankly as he forced himself to look at her, her own eyes wide in her blushing face.
She heard his words, and her brain nearly rejected what he was saying.
Her gaze snapped down to the blanket almost as fast as his did, and her blush was at an all-time high.
She felt like she might pop a blood vessel!!

"I-I...I..." She mumbled, unable to form words. Finally, she just shut her eyes, unable to get much out except the one thing she did manage to force out.
"I made you put it in my hair on purpose!"
There, she said it dammit!

The gods must spite her...or...something!!

So basically, in her round-about-way of saything things she....liked him too. Of course, she couldn't make herself say it just yet, so what she did say would have to suffice. If Hatame got it anyway.
Hopefull, hopefully he did...

[Rhindeer]

Hatame was waiting anxiously for that smack, for her reject what he'd just said, for her to tell him to cut it out and stop joking around. Hell, part of him wanted to just go, "haha! Kidding!" except that would be a lie and he didn't like lying (nor was he any good at it). Plus, Sakkata would probably kill him after that. Not that he was worried about that. He could have died right then and there, actually, from sheer...stress?

Ugh. It was pretty stupid, actually...but...to be quite honest, he'd fooled around a lot and dated people, sure, but...he'd never actually been in a relationship or even really liked anyone that much. Oh, sure, he'd had his crushes--hey, he had to at least find the person he was having sex with attractive! But he'd just never really given the whole thing any serious thought. Why? Well, because back then he'd been cursed, slowly dying. There was no point in persuing a relationship if he was just going to die, either from the curse or sheer recklessness because he just didn't care, so he'd had his friendships and his little sparks, but back then it had all been about instant gratification; never about anything long-term. Live for today and all that, break every rule, and just...go crazy.

Of couse, he was still crazy and lived for the moment and broke rules, but he also had a future now! Which meant he could think about the sorts of long-term things he never used to think about and that he had to be a bit more careful...though he was still pretty reckless.

Yeah. Sakkata was the first person he would actually want to "court". No thoughts of sex or nothing. He really did...like her.

He swallowed, still studying the ground like he was trying to identify and classify the different minerals in the soil. Okay, Sakki. Tell him he was stupid...

Instead, what she said was the complete opposite of what he expected.

She...had him put...the dangly thing in on purpose?

Dangly thing put in hair by male with permission of female equals...courting!

Put in on purpose equals...permission to court!

...Yeah. He got it, all right.

Slowly, he lifted his head to look at her. "So...you..." Did she really mean it like that, though?

He just stared at her. Waitaminute. Sakki. Sakkata. She...she couldn't mean it like that! Sakkata? Want him to court her? Uh...no way. She...she had to be....she was pranking him. Yeah. Haha. Because she...there was just no way. He had an excuse! He was crazy (yeah, he was convinced he was crazy right now). She...she had to be kidding. But that blush...oh Gods.

Once again, he swallowed. "You...erm...like me like...that?" he managed to ask quietly.

The world was about to end. Yeah. This had to be a sign of the next world breaking...thing. It had to be.

Just...no way. This was...

How the hell did they manage to get to this point?!

[Anonymous]

Sakkata was, ironically, the exact opposite of Hatame. She was a near virgin, and had gone through each of her scarce heats without a male around. She had never had time to just stop and think about mating with a male. She was always running, always moving, never with enough time to seek out a mate. And really, she wanted nothing to do with her kind anyway.
Yet the idea of an out-of-species mate had never before crossed her mind.

And really, the mating part wasn't really the point. She just...liked Hatame, for what ever twisted reason the gods had laid out.
Why, of all people, did she like Hatame...???

"Yes!" She snapped. How much more obvious could she make it?? Well, saying it would help, but at this point she was sure he got it. "I don't know why, I just...do. I wasn't going to say anything about it either, but...you brought it up first..."
She shifted uncomfortably, still staring down at the blanket, her hands gripping her ankles with a deathly vice.
This was so incredibly awkward...

"So...there, I said it, I guess...now what??"
What a question...

[Rhindeer]

Why, of all people, did she like him?

Even after she said it, he could only stare at her in disbelief. She did. Oh man. She actually did. She liked him. He liked her. How...how the hell did this happen? Seriously. Way back in the days when he'd been busted out of prison and shopped with her for vests and pushed her in the ocean and helped her save Terri and embarrassed her in the restaurant...yeah...this would have never crossed his mind. Ever. She was a friend, and he could have never anticipated this. Hell, even when he'd started to feel for her, that was one thing. Her feeling the same way? Impossible. But it wasn't. Oh damn...

"Oh...wow...okay. Just double checking!" he said, still blinking blankly. This was so weird...

But...

Wow. He was not complaining. He was happy. Seriously. He was thrilled! He just...dear Gods, how the hell did he express it?! They both liked each other. They both admitted it. And all he said was, "okay, just double checking"? AUGH! He was an idiot! Never mind that he was still utterly shocked, but honestly! He'd slept with strangers before and now he couldn't even say or do anything intelligent, he just had to act all virgin shy now, and around Sakkata, who he'd known for at least a few years? The hell was wrong with him?

It was the shock.

But when Sakkata finally asked the question...that snapped him back to himself. He blinked and looked back at her. Now what?

...Ahaha. What a question, indeed.

Hatame cleared his throat. "Well...I guess we're going out now! Courting!" he answered with a quiet laugh. Duh, Hatame.

Yeah. This was strangely awkward. Did people usually act so stupid after confessing their mutual interest in each other? Yeesh.

Finally, he coughed. "Well...I guess this is the part where we kiss; that's usually how that works," he said, totally straight-faced. Ahaha. Damn. He felt like a little kid or something all over again, like he was totally inexperienced all over again. Gah. What a nightmare. Right. Don't think like that! Ahem. Reclaiming some of his usual boldness, he gently cupped her chin with one hand and looked at her. "I mean...if you want to," he added. He didn't want to pressure her! Knowing how she was...she probably had very limited experience, right? Right. "Though we already technically have...I sorta stole that second one because I wanted to. But...yeah. Usually kissing comes now, but...there's no rush, Sakki. I can go as slow as you want." And then he kissed her forehead.

There. That was better. He sounded calmer and not so stupid now. Whew...

He was really starting to scare himself.

And hell yeah he wanted to kiss her, anyway! But...he could also wait for her.

[Anonymous]

Just double checking...?
If she hadn't been in about as much shock as Hatame, she would have gotten on him for that one.
That was such a stupid thing to say....

So utterly Hatame...

It was a good thing that Hatame cleared up that human slang he used, for she didn't know the term 'going out'. She snorted, but was still blushing furiously. Yes, they were...all because of her...
Well, not exactly, but still. The whole hair piece...
She had kind of set that up in her favor...

And then he said the next part. Sakki sat up totally striaght, then slouched, looking away. "Er...really...?" Ah, another kiss...No....
If he wasn't so straight faced, she wouldn't have believed him. Damn...
Did they really have to???
It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was just...
It felt too damn good.

Her chin was then cupped, and she blinked, whatever blush that had faded coming back ten fold as she stared into Hatame's eyes. Did she want to?? Yes! Could she say that?? No!
She squeaked lightly as he kissed her forehead, but only out of mild surprise.
The opportunity was passing her by...
Eventually he would just figure her silence meant no, when it almost always meant yes.

"Alright, I guess...we can do that..." She mumbled softly, finally, and looked away again. She couldn't help her accute embarrassment. She wanted to say yes, to do things with him, to say things, but it just locked her up inside of herself.
It would take awhile before she'd gain the confidence to act freely around him.
Hell, she was having trouble doing that even when they didn't know they liked each other!
This could take awhile...

Anyway, stop thinking brain, there's a kiss coming!!

[Rhindeer]

Indeed, after that little smooch on her forehead, Hatame was more than ready to back off. Sakkata didn't look like she could turn a deeper shade of purple (either that, or she looked like her head was about to explode from all the blood rushing to it) and, well, this whole thing just might be way too much for her. Hey! He was perfectly content with just knowing that she actually liked him like that! Everything else after that, well, it'd fall in place with time! He had no problems waiting, because the last thing he wanted to be was pushy, or to pressure her into anything.

That would be bad.

Because he knew what had happened to her, and she would likely always carry the memories of that. No, she wasn't damaged...he didn't think she was. She was healing, and that always took time, and, well...yeah. Truth be told, he just didn't want to freak her out at all, rouse any unpleasant memories or anything. That's why he was being so careful. No, he wasn't completely oblivious and he certainly wasn't intentionally insensitive (even if he made grave mistakes here and there, eh heh). He had some sense in his head, so he figured it was best to take it slow and just...make sure she was comfortable with everything.

Like now! Sure, he wanted to kiss her badly, but...

He was on the verge of just assumung her silence was a no when she finally spoke up.

It was a mumble, but he still picked it up. Now, it was just a question of whether she really wanted to and was just embarrassed to admit it, or...was just doing it for his sake. Well...he'd find out!

Some part of him figured she was just grudgingly admitting something she wanted, though. He was pretty familiar with that tone of voice. She used it a lot. Yeesh, woman. Getting her to admit she enjoyed something or wanted something was like pulling teeth! Blunt as she often was, she was also pretty damned shy about some things! It was...oddly cute. Heh heh. But he was sure with time she'd get better, once she learned it was okay to be open.

He smiled a little and shook his head, still a little amused and shocked at the same time. "Okay...alright, then, Sakki, I'm gonna kiss you, okay?" That said, hand still on her chin, he turned her head slightly to face him again before leaning in and pressing his lips against hers. It was pretty chaste, just like before--c'mon, he wasn't going to French a newbie!--but he still allowed himself to nibble along her bottom lip teasingly before he finally broke it off.

Opening his eyes (shut up, yes he kissed with his eyes closed) he traced the thumb that had been on her chin along her jaw gently. Then he laughed a little. "So...heh...there! Our first official kiss."

[Anonymous]

Every moment she had to wait for the inevitable kiss, the worse her anxiety about the whole thing got. Couldn't he just kiss her already and get it over with??
Waiting was practically unbearable!
Wait...that sounded kind of wrong...
Ugh, never mind!

Hatame's announcement of the impending kiss sparked amusement, but it was hidden beneath a multitude of layers of embarrassment.
Here it came...
Nervous, Sakkata shut her eyes tightly, waiting with frayed nerves and tense muscles for the kiss to come.

And finally, she felt his lips against hers, and a shiver ran all the way up her spine.
Chaste or not, the kiss was really on Sakkata's third ever (not including what Torr, did, the fucker...)
So needless to say, it affected her rather strongly. She felt her whole body tingle, and then finally relax. There should be a law against something so stupid feeling so nice...

She shivered again, a bit more accutely, when he nibbled her bottom lip. She felt a distinct disappointment deep in her gut when he pulled back, and trembled slightly, trying not to let the yearning show on her face.
Her eyes reluctantly opened, her cheeks flushed vibrantly with color that made them turn purple with all the blood flow. Her skin tingled along the path of his thumb, and once more she shivered, hunching her shoulders alittle.

That had felt way too nice, and she hadn't wanted him to stop....of course, she sure as hell wasn't going to say that!!
Looking off the side as he spoke, she bit her lip, knowing if she spoke her voice would give her away.
Why was she hiding that she liked it from him?? She didn't really know...she just felt...
Ashamed almost. Was that normal???
She was pretty sure it wasn't, but...
Gah, she just didn't know what to do, and for some reason was fighting her instincts tooth and nail. It was just something about Hatame that made her falter and argue with what her heart and soul told her to do.
She was just...afraid to be that open with him. Afraid he might drop or bruise her usually shielded emotions should she hand them over to him.
She couldn't trust him completely yet...

[Rhindeer]

Hatame tilted his head slightly and looked at Sakkata as she went into Silent Mode, looking away again and blushing like mad. Well...the blushing he could understand, but as for the rest, he couldn't really say he'd ever quite gotten that sort of reaction from anyone after kissing them. Dead silence. Erk? For a few short moments he was worried that, maybe, he'd done something wrong. Had he come on too strongly? Been too aggressive? Not aggressive enough? Had it just...sucked on her end? His cheeks paled a little. Well...maybe he was a little out of practice...since he hadn't made out with anyone since he ran into Sakkata and Terri again, amazingly (damn, that was a long time). First because he just hadn't had the time, then because they were isolated, and then because, well...he just didn't have the desire to. For reasons that were now obvious.

...Could you suddenly get bad if you went without for a while?

It was a terrifying, hair-raising thought. Especially now that he found someone he liked--a lot--and wanted to "court" instead of just simply having a one-night fling.

But then the moment of panic passed when he remembered Sakkata's accute shivers and how she'd gone from rigid to relaxed as he kissed her. If she'd hated it, it should have worked the opposite way, right? Right. Chill out, Hatame...

Though he really couldn't help it. He cared about what she thought, after all...

He was quiet for a bit, as though waiting for Sakkata to say something, and then when she didn't he was still quiet, debating between breaking the silence with something characteristically witty (or stupid, take your pick!) or something...serious. Eventually, just because he was him, he decided on a combination of both. Try and lighten up the cloud of awkwardness that seemed to have descended as well as, well, try and dig into the heart of the matter, because if there was nothing that drived him nuts more, it was silence. Then again, he was the honest and open type (perhaps a bit too open) and didn't really know the meaning of "private thoughts". He coughed and rubbed the back of his head in feigned sheepishness. "Erm...it wasn't that bad, was it? No worries, if it was, we can just have a do-over and that one won't count!" He winked at her, then gave her knee a pat.

"But...um...really, Sakki...you okay?" he asked, scooting a little closer. "I mean, well...this isn't going too fast for you, is it? It's not scaring you?" He looked slighly worried. "Because, I mean...you can say whatever's on your mind, you know." He tilted his head to the other side and looked at her.

He knew she was the type to keep stuff in. She wasn't going to become an extrovert over night.

[Anonymous]

Sakkata struggled with her instincts, something she didn't often do. Her instincts wanted her to kiss him again. She so wasn't going to do that.
But why not...?
This was starting to get redundant. And annoying. She didn't like arguing with her instincts.
They were always right.
Damn damn damn...

His words summed up a slight smile from her, but it was weak. Oh no, it wasn't bad at all...
But no words would leave her firmly shut lips. She was doing it again! She was bein selfish, shutting Hatame out...
And all because she refused to follow her instincts.

Her heart twisted at his final words, and she hated herself for a few moments.
Stop.it.
Just stop fighting it you freaking idiot!
....
........

"N-no, I'm fine. I'm sorry." Her voice was soft, and she took a few deep breaths. She had to get back in touch with her instincts, with her real, inner self.
For some reason she always fought that part of her when it came to Hatame. Was she really that nervous, that distrusting...?
He wouldn't ever hurt her...
Not on purpose. But sometimes people hurt others without meaning to.
Is that what she was afraid of??
Stupid...
Weak...

"Don't freak out..." She said softly, leaning forward. "I just want to try being myself..." Whoo, leap of faith coming right up...
Sakkata cleared her mind and just listened to what her inner self said, letting her body move with relaxed motions, trying not to think any of the annoying thoughts that normally got in the way when around Hatame. She pretty much crawled into Hatame's lap (second time she'd ended up there in one day...scary), fingers curling into his shirt in a strangely clingy display.
Don't think, don't think, don't think...
Her amber eyes wavered a few times as she looked up at him, fighting down all the thoughts bubbling to the surface. This shouldn't be so hard...

She paused then, her lips a hair's width away from his chin, with the position her head was in.
Her body struggled with her inexperience, before finally urging her up that last little bit so she could finally do what he instincts wanted her to do.
Kiss him back.
She had utterly no idea what she was doing, but it shouldn't be too hard to just press your lips against someone else's...

[Rhindeer]

He blinked at her when she said she was fine and apologized, and he shook his head. "Don't apologize, it's okay." It was new to her. That had to be it, and he could understand that, even if it made him a little nervous. Just because, horndog though he was, it wasn't like he didn't respect people's boundaries (well...where it counted, at least! When he was goofing off, there were no boundaries, ahahah! But this was different! Trust was delicate and all too easily broken, and even harder to rebuild). That last thing he wanted to do was bruise the trust that he'd tried so hard to build.

He was quiet again as she took deep breaths, and even though she said she was fine, he was a little worried. She might not be telling the truth; she might be closing herself up again. She seemed so nervous, but he didn't say anything. Maybe she just needed a moment. Yeah. So...he'd give her her moment!

That was when she said it.

Don't freak out.

"Er, wha...?" Anything more intelligible than that was lost.

Hatame tensed a little and snapped his attention back up to her, eyes going a little wide. Don't...freak out? Okay...so...did that mean she was about ready to give him a reason to freak out? She leaned forward, and he held still, watching her. She...wanted to try being herself? Okay. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Great, great! So, did that mean she was opening up? Wait, opening up...what was she doing? She was...crawling into his lap, curling her fingers into his shirt. Hatame, by this point, had gone completely stock still in a mixture of surprise and just...not wanting to move for fear of the slightest movement breaking whatever bout of confidence Sakki had suddenly gained. Holy shit. She was doing it again! His fingers twitched on the blanket, wanting to move and embrace her, but he just curled them into the cloth; no, no, he did not want to spook her! He was curious as to what she was up to...if a bit...bewildered. Because, uh...Sakkata? Doing this?

Yeah. Total shocker.

...Um...

He stared down into her face as she looked at him, her lips dangerously close, and he swallowed, feeling his face flush a little--damnit, no! Stupid face! Gaaah! Wasn't his fault, though! He was just...was she...about to do what he thought she was about to do? No freaking out. Right. He held still. It would be so easy to just go those few extra centimeters himself, but he waited patiently. Whatever she was about to do, he wanted her to do it, to show her it was okay.

Even if it was freaky.

But only because he'd never expected her to get so brave all of a sudden.

It wasn't that he minded it! Quite the contrary!

Ahhh! Stop thinking, damnit!

Then she did it. She actually freaking did it. Her lips pressed against his, and his eyes widened momentarily in surprise (even though he'd seen it coming!) before he let them close, a pleasant chill running up his spine as he relaxed, his mind suddenly quite far away from all the previous shock and mild freak out session he was having. For a moment he let her dominate the kiss before, finally, he kissed her back and wrapped his arms around her waist like he'd wanted to, idly stroking her back. Yeah. Wow. Sakki...had actually kissed him.

In his mind, he pumped his fist in the air.

This was freaking awesome. Yeah, he liked it when she was being herself.

[Anonymous]

Well, seemed she was doing something right. Even if she didn't think she knew what she was doing, she had felt the light edge of his chill, and his sudden relaxation.
She had been worried there for a minute he was going to freak out even though she told him not to.
Good thing he hadn't. She really was going out on a limb here, it wouldn't take much to 'spook her'.

Made her sound like a skittish animal.

In any case, even Sakki was a wee bit surprised at herself. But most of her wasn't, because this was what it wanted, and it was getting it.
Simple as that.
Sometimes it payed to be more beast than human...kind of simplified things.
It also made other things more complicated, but they hadn't quite gotten to that yet...

A strange mewling sound rose briefly from Sakkata's throat when Hatame finally held her, and she cuddled closer almost immediately. Even if she was being far more bold than usual, she was taking all her cues from him.
She had no clue what she was doing, after all. This was all instinct.

The rubbing on her back, gentle and rythmic, she liked far more than she would have expected to, and her tail waved back and forth behind her, pleased.
The kiss was still pretty chaste, considering she had very little concept of a 'deep' kiss. Which was fine, because she liked this plenty as it was. It was just the fact of getting to be so close to him, and the intimacy of something so delicate as the lips touching one another.
Her Drygan senses agreed wholly with the entire thing. And so did inexperienced Sakkata.